Automatic railway gate



March 4,, 1930. A. WIDUCH ET AL AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE Filed May 9, 1929 2 Shoets-Sheet l Inventors. A.Wialuch 513 a du/c,

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March 4, 1930. A. WIDUCH 5! AL AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE Filed lay 9, 1929 2 Shoots-Sheet 2 b %w a WH6 Patented Mar. 4, 1930 PATENT OFFICE ADAM WIDUCH, STANLEY HAYDUK, AND WALENTY SLIWA,

INDIANA OF MICHIGAN CITY,

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE Application filed m 9,

v i The present invention relates to automatic railway gates for railroad crossings and has for its main object the provision of a gate which is operable by means of the train ap- J: 5 proaching the crossing.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a railway gate ofthe characterindicated which may be simple in construction and eflicient in its operation.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an automatic railway gate for the use with railway crossings which may be operated by the train approaching the crossing from either direction with respect to the crossing.

Another object of thepresent invention is the provision of an automatic railway crossing gate connected up with a suitable mechanism which maybe actuated by bars positioned on each side of the crossing and lengthwise of the rails and which may be pressed by the wheels of the train, and for which bars suitable means may be provided whereby said bars may be kept in position and in abutment with their cooperating rails. With the above general objects in view and others that will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the appended claims.

-In the drawings forming a part of this application and in which like designating characters refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views, i

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the present invention showing the swinging members of the gate in closed or operative position; Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the gate;

Fig. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of the gate lengthwise of the railway track or transtaken alongline' 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the gate partly in section and partly in elevation, the view having been taken transversely of the railway track along line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig.5 is a side elevational view of a bar,

versely of the crossing, the view having been 1929. Serial No. 361,630.

with central portions thereof broken away, by means of which the mechanism of the gate is actuated;

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view through said bar and its cooperating rail, the view having been taken on line 66 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is an elevational side view of a pulley constituting part of the present invention, showing the means for frictionally locking said pulley while the gate is in an open or inoperative position;

Fig. 8'is a side elevational view of a swinging member; and

Fig. 9 is a top elevational view of said swinging member.

Referring to the drawings in detail there are shown therein conventional rails 10 positioned upon usual ties 11. Positioned below rails 10 and on a plane substantially with ties 11 is a box-like housing generally indicated by 12, which includes rectangular box frame 13 and platform 14 positioned upon said box frame 13 and in parallel relation with the ties, as plainly seen on Figs. 1 and 3. Adjacent the outer corners, and outside of the rails, platform 14 is provided with openings 15 for the purpose which will be hereinafter described.

Said platform 14 has openings made therein lengthwise of the rails, two of them outwardly of the rails, and one in between the rails, and for the purpose of covering the same, outer covers 16 and central cover 17 are provided and are longitudinally disposed in relation with rails 10 and in the path of a road traversing the rails.

Positioned over each of said openings 15 are housings each of which includes a pair of upright parallel walls 18 which are in parallel relation with respect to the rails, and a U-shaped cover 19which covers and fits over said parallel walls 18. For atlixing said latter described housing to housing 12, or more specifically to platform 14, said walls 18 are secured or rigidly afiixed thereto adjacent the edges of openings 15, by means of horizontal flanges 20 made at the lower edges of said covers 19, which flanges rest upon platform 14 and by means whereof said covers 19 are v mounted thereupon.

Said housing,'including walls-'18 and U- shaped plates 19 for the purpose of simplicity are indicated on Fig. 1 by numeral '21 and will be referred to by that numeral in the remaining description.

Two shafts 22 which are in transverse re lation with respect to the rails 10 are positioned within suitable slots or openings made in platform 14, the ends of each of said shafts 22 resting upon and within bearings 23,

which are. positioned upon cement blocks-24', as seen on Fig. 5, which cement blocks rest upon the ground and below platform 14, ad-

jacent rails 10, but on the plane substantially.

identical with the plane of ties 11, as clearly seen on Fig. 5. These shafts 22 are rotatably mounted upon said blocks 24 within ment with the sprocketwheel' 25 upon shaft 22. The outer ends of said shafts 27 project outwardly of said housings 21 and have rigidly mounted thereupon swinging members generally indicated by 29. Said larger sprocket wheels 25 and smaller sprocket wheels 28 in each housing 21, are connected by sprocket chains 30, each ofwhich, at two opposite points, and. adjacent the central por tion, is provided with a pair of turn buckles 31 for the purposeof tightening or loosening said sprocket chain inorder that proper ad justment thereof upon the two sprocket wheels 25 and 28 may be attained.

For thepurpose of actuating or revolving shafts 22, a pair of bars 32 are provided for each rail and positioned alongside thereof and outwardly of the rail track. One of said bars 32 is provided foreach shaft 22 as seen on Fig. 1, so that the position of said bars 32.

with respect to each other and withrespect of the crossing ison .adiagonal line. The

ends of each of said bars 32 disposed nearer tothe crossing are curved and downwardly extending as at 33, while the other, outward end of each of said bars 32 is tapered for fa cilitating' the engagement of the bar with the wheels of an approaching train. 'Each of said bars 32 is comparatively longand is adapted to remain in close abutment with the outer face of each rail, and in order to eliminate any possible deflection or bending of each of said bars from its cooperating rail when under pressure of the train wheels, suitable supports are provided to maintain said bars in close contact with the rails as will be presently described.

Each of said supports includes base 34 which is adapted to be positioned and rigidly mounted upon ties 11 and adjacent the outer edges of, the base of the rail, as seen on Fig 6. Rigidly formed with andunwardly it pro ecting from said base 34 is plate 35,

which, when the support is in its operative position, remains longitudinally with respect to ties 11 or transversely of rail 10. Rigidly formed with said base 34 as well as with one face of plate 35, and at the edge of said base 34 nearer to the rail 10 are two spaced lugs 36 which are adapted toreceive therebetween the lower end of link 37 wherein said lower end thereof is pivotally mounted upon pin 38.

The upper end of said link 37 is pivoted at the outer face of bar 32' upon pin 39.

In the operative position of the support hereinabove described with respect to rail 10 and bar 32 the edges of plate 35, will contact a with the outer face of. bar 32, the latter remaining between the head of the rail 10 and said abutting edge of plate 35, while the face of link 37 which abuts with bar 32 will re main in alinement with the face of plate 35 which abutssaid bar 32. This operative cooperation between the several parts of said support and bar 32 necessitates the off-setting of one of the lugs 36 towards rail 10 so that the same may remain below bar 32 as seen onFig. '6. l o

- There are a number of the supports hereinabove. described, one positioned uponeach tie throughout the length of bar 32.

Said curved ends 33 of bars 32 are disposed above shafts. 22 and are received within the bifurcated ends of lever arms 40 wherein they are pivoted upon pins 41, said arms being rigidly mounted upon said shafts 22 so that when there is pressure exerted upon bars 32 by the train -wheels'a rotary movement may be impartedto shafts 22 when said bar 32 and arm 40 assume the position shown by dotted lines on Fig. 5. I

7 Two pulleys 26 on one side of the railroad track are connected by means of cable 42 one end of which is secured to one pulley 26 as at 43 and remains at a pointwhich is lowermost when the swinging members 29 are in an op erative or closed position as plainly seen on Fig. 3. V The other end of said cable 42 is secured to the opposite pulley 26 on the same side of the track and remainsat the uppermost, point upon said last named pulley as at- 44 when the gates are closed. 45 connects the two pulleys 26 on the opposite side of the track, but in this instance the end of said last namedcable is secured at the lowermost point of that pulley 26 which remains on the right side of the crossing, reference'beifng had to Fig. 1, when the gates are closed. The other end of said cable 45 is secured to theopposite pulley 26 on the same sideof the track at such point of said last named pulley which is uppermost during the position of said pulley when the gates are closed. Said cables 42 and 45 are adapted to operate simultaneously regardless from which direction the train approaches.

Assuming that the train approaches from the direction indicated by the arrow on Fig. 1, the wheels of the train will exert pressure on bar 32 at the right side of the crossing which will bring about a downward swingng movement of lever arm 40 due to the pressure exerted thereupon by the curved end proachmg tram.

33, of bar 32. This will cause the rotation of shaft 22 in the direction away from the ap Since sprocket wheels 25 are rigidly connected with said shaftj22, the rotary movement of said shaft imparted thereto by bar 32 will also be imparted to said sprocket wheels 25 on the same side of the crossing, and the rotation of said sprocket Wheels 25 will be imparted, by means of,

sprocket chain 30, to the upper smaller sprocket wheels 28, which likewise will rotate to the direction of rotation of shaft 22 and sprocket wheels 25. Shafts 27 on the same side of the crossing will rotate with said smaller sprocket wheels 28, by means of which operation the swinging members 29 willbe brought down fromthe open upright posi .tion to the horizontal closed position shown onFig. 3.

Simultaneously with the above operation cable 45 will be wound upon pulley 26 which remains adjacent bar 32 now under-discussion, or in other words said cable 45 will be pulled toward or in the direction of said last named bar 32, which operation will cause the rotation of pulley 26 to which the opposite end of cable 45 is attached, and since said end of cable 45 is attached to tlw opposite pulley 26 now in question, at 'apoint which is diametrically opposite from the pulley adjacent said bar 32, the rotation of said pulley'to which said otherend of said cable 45 is attached, is the reverse of that to which pulley 26 adjacent bar 32 is rotated. This operation will cause therotation of shaft 22 on the left side of the crossing in the reverse direction from the. direction of the part rotary movement topu'lley 26 on the opposite side of the railroad'track and'this operation will cause the rotation of smaller sprocket wheels 28 on said. leftside of the crossing in the same direction through the medium of sprocket chains 30; V This operation will cause'rotation of shafts 27 in'the di rection" of rotation of said smaller sprocket wheels 28, in consequence of which the swingin'g members 29xon the left side of the crosstrain approaches the crossing from the op-' posite direction from that indicated by arrow on Fig. 1, the train wheels will press upon bar 32 on the left side of the crossing,

reference being made to Fig. 1, which will cause the rotation of shaft 22 away from the direction of the approaching train through the mediumof lever arm 40, as already described. This operation will cause the rotation of pulleys 26 on the left side of the crossing in the direction of the rotation of shaft 22 on the same side of the crossing and swinging members 29 on the same side of the crossing will be brought to closed or hori zontal position by virtue of rotation of sprocket wheels 28 on the same side of the crossing due to the shifting of the sprocket chains 30. Simultaneously with this operation cable 42 is wound upon respective pulley 26, normally, when the gates are in an open upright position the end of said cable 42 remaining substantially on the plane with platform 14. in consequence of which opera-v tion said cable will be pulled in the direction of the approaching train from the left side of the crossing, and the other end of said cable, which normally also remains substantially on the plane with platform 14, will cause the rotation of the opposite pulley 26 on the same side of the railroad track in the reverse direction from that of pulley to which end 43 of cable42 is attached. In. consequence of the rotation of pulleys 26 through which end 44 of cable 42 is attached, the respective shaft 22 will also rotate with said pulley and will cause the rotation of the opposite pulley 26 on the other side of the railroad track, and the two pulleys, through the medium of larger sprocket wheels 25, will cause the rotation of their respective smaller sprocket wheels 28 in the same direction through the medium of sprocket chains 30, whereby swinging members 29 on the right side of thetrack will be brought to horizontal or closed position.

Eachof said cables 42 and 45 is provided with turn buckles 46 whereby the same may be tightened or loosened as the operativeness of said cables may from time to time require.

For each of said cables 42 and 45, roller 47, adjacent one of the housings 21, is provided for guiding the movement of said cables. 1

Each of saidswinging members 29 at its outer end is provided with weight 48 for the puropse of bringing said swinging member to the open inoperative position illustrated by full lines on Fi 2. Said weight 48 should be rather heavyin order that the same may bring about the reversal of the rotation of the several shafts, pulleys and sprocket wheels after the train has passed the cross.-

lng and released the pressure upon bars 32.

Of course, when the train has left said lbars, the same will assume their normal lIlOPGIZttive positionshown by full lines on Fig.5, and

' by accident be found between the several swinging members and upon the railroad track, the same may escape by driving against said swinging members which would open on a ho izontal plane upon said hinges 4:9, and thereafter the same would automatically close due to the tension of said'coil springs 50.

One of said pulleys26 is provided on its periphery with a projection 51, which, when the swinging members 29 are in open vertical position, remains at the lowermost point of said pulley 26. Below said pulley, and suitably mounted is frame 52 which receives therewithin block, 5.3 which is adapted to make upright cushioning movement by virtue of coil springs 54 positioned therebelow. The upper face of said block 53 has a depress on corresponding to the outline of said pro ection 51, so that when said pulley assumes the position illustrated on Fig. 7, said projection 51' remains within said depression in block 53. f This arrangement permits frictional locking of one of saidpulleys 26, wh1ch in consequence prevents movement of the mechanism of the entire gate which otherwise would be caused by the pressure of the wind at the opened swinging members 29 or other causes. 7

While there is described herein'a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor changes may be made therein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What we claim as new is: V

1. In an automatic railway crossinggate comprising swinging members, shafts disposed below the rails, means between said shafts and said swinging membersfortransmitting the rotation of said shafts to said swinging members for the purpose of bringing said swinging members from an upright open position to a horizontal closed position, bars associated with the rails, the ends of said bars adjacent the crossing being bent towards said shafts, said bars being adapted for actuation by the wheels of the train, lever arms rigidly connected by their one ends to said shafts, the other ends of said lever arms being inipivotal connection with said bent upwardly projecting plate integrally formed with said base plate, said upwardly projecting plate being in transverse relation with the rail, the edge of'said last named plate I in conjunction with the head of the rail forming a recess for receiving therewithin said bar, a pair of spaced lugs integrally formed with said base plate and said upwardly projecting plate, and a link pivotally positioned by one of its ends between said lugs and by its upper end pivotally connected to said bar, the inner face of said i link being in alinement with the edgeof said to the rail.

3. In an automatic railway crossing gate including swinging members, a bar positioned along side of the rails, said bar being adapted for actuation by the train wheels for bringing said swinglng members to horizontal closed position, base plates positioned upon" the ties and abutting the rail bases, anup-- wardly projecting plate integrally formed with said base plate, said upwardly projectwith said base plate and said'up'wardly pro-V jecting plate, and a link pivotally positioned Iiats upper end pivotally connected to said ar. i.

4. In an automatic railway'crossing gate including swinging members, a bar" posilZlOIlGd along side ofthe rails, said bar being adapted for actuation by the train wheels for bringing said swinging members to horizontal closed position, base plates positioned" upon the ties and abutting therail bases, an upwardly projecting plate integrally formed with said base plate, said upwardly projecting plate being in transverse relation with the rail, the edge of said lastnamed plate in conjunction with the head of the rail forming a recess for receiving therewithin said bar, a pair of "spaced lugs integrally, formed wlth said base plate and said upby onemf its ends between said lugs and by wardly projecting plate, and a link pivot ally positioned by one of its ends between sa1d lugs and by itsupper end pivotally' con nected to said bar, one ofsaid lugs being be yondthe edges ofsaid two plates which are nearer to the rail. i V

5. In an automatic railway crossing gate' including swinging members, bar positioned along side of the rails, said bar being adapted for actuation by the train wheels for bringing saids'winging members to horizontal closed position, base plates positioned upon the ties and abutting the rail base, an upwardly projecting plate integrally formed with said base plate, said upwardly projecting plate being in transverse relation with the rail, the edge of said last named plate in (conjunction with the head of the rail forming a recess for receiving therewithin said bar, a pair of. spaced lugs integrally I formed with said base plate and said upwardly projecting plate, said lugs beingin longitudinal relation with the rail, the outer face of the lug which is nearest to the rail being in alinement with the outer face of said bar, and a link pivotally positioned by one of its ends between said lugs and by its upper end pivotally connectedto said bar.

In testimony whereof, we afiix our signatures.

ADAM WIDUCH. STANLEY HAYDUK. WALENTY SLIWA. 

